I examined the checklist provided above. Thanks for that. I changed the order of services and also ufw's config file, which wasn't patched in LM 14 KDE downloaded two weeks ago. I would like to network a Windows 7 computer, but I don't wish to be without a firewall on my Linux desktop either. My firewall has all the exceptions noted in your tutorial. Earlier I had assumed Windows 7 was the roadblock, but this tutorial leads me to think it might be the other way around, or maybe Windows 7 has simply made things difficult for Linux?

I notice the previous poster said he could see the shares now, but he didn't actually try to copy files between the shares. I could see my shares too, in some situations, but being able to access them is not necessarily a given.

I've yet to see any tutorial online for connecting Windows 7 Home edition to Linux. I spent 4+ hours one day trying to get things working, disabling firewalls and antiviruses, and nada. In my opinion, a home network will be either all Windows 7 computers, or else all Linux and versions of Windows prior to 7. I chose the latter. But I can see how a lot of people will choose the former.